Meet Lady Susan...again

Here she is in all her glory. I really really love it and so does my friend Susan. It was her New Year's present or well maybe a late Christmas present. I forgot to photograph the inside. It is lined with the same fabric as the patches. Can you tell I love freestyle stitching? and French knots?
More later,
Sharon

UFPs...WIPs...and PP&F

You've seen her before. She was a UFP and now she is a WIP. Well the fact is, she is a FP but I just can't show you yet. You know I will though.

I spent the good part of three days cleaning to the core my studio. Wished I had before pictures to show. Well, no I really don't. There is nothing more inspirational than a clean work space with everything put away, lurking and calling to come back out to play.

I sent an open shelf cabinet home with DD-I-L. That's what started the cleanup. I had to find a place out of sight to put those Doll Artisan magazines that I just can't part with. Now, between the cabinet and the corner I had stored for 20+ years several rolls of UFPs. Actually, they were LOPs, Left-Overs from Projects. I found a new home for them standing in the corner of my closet behind the clothes that I never wear. Out of sight and hiding like bad children. Sure enough, one roll began to call to me! "It's me, use me, you'll see, I'll be..."

Well, I retrieved the roll standing there in it's new home behind the clothes that I never wear. All I can say is, "perfect and you'll see".

So there you have it. From my clean-up, I found UnFinished Projects and Left Overs from Projects. I turned them into Works-In-Process and Finished Projects and somehow in my feeble brain that all relates to PP & F. Past, Present and Future.

Yes Future, I'm thinking about 2007 and will share...
More later,
Sharon

My Friends Are Amazing!

Well I haven't blogged in a while so I will just catch you up a little bit for now.

The short and sweet of it is that I have been off all week and I can tell you that I haven't had a week off from Work-At-The-Desk for longer that I can remember. Yes, I am deserving!

Now about some of my amazing friends. Just look at this stack of three great big wallpaper books and the huge dictionary. I believe you will understand what a wonderful gift this is. My friend Susan gave me a sack full of various art supplies which I absolutely love; but, she knew how I would love love love these. Thank you my friend Susan. You are so special!
My friend Carolynn gave me this wonderful Mary Engelbreit 2007 Calendar. Of course she knows that I will do what I do to books. I learned to do this in 2006. I'll be altering it all year long. My new Art-AT-The-Desk project for 2007. Thank you Carolynn. And I love the coffee mug too. It is already in use at the office.
I have a new friend whom I have never met. Some of you may know Zorana and her beautiful art. She sent me scraps of her Christmas wrapping paper just like I begged for here. But she also sent me two little bits of her art. I am so sorry you can't see the beautiful detail. I can't figure out how she did this little tiny detail painting. Thank you Zorana, I cherish it.

That is enough for now. I'll save the rest
for later,
Sharon

Merry Christmas

to all.
I did get my cards in the mail earlier this week. Except I have lost my list that I have used for many years and so the card mailing is ongoing. I worked on my cards in November but didn't tell. I used my Snow Fairy Princess from my Flesh True Colors Journal. My card shown here is a scan of a scan and not too good. So, just click here for a better look at the Snow Fairy Princess.

The good news is I will be off all next week and I plan to ... well I will probably share that with you then.

The bad news is we are having our family Christmas dinner and gifts tomorrow evening with kids and grandkids and I need to shop for their presents, then wrap them, then shop for the groceries, then cook them.

In the meantime, I am stranded here doing work-at-the-desk (ho ho ho) until 5 o'clock. Because my dh KRT and son and two oldest grandsons are off on a hunting excursion and will return tomorrow just prior to the big feast.

And the good news is I am not stressed at all about this. Except that I am a little confused that I am not stressed. Do you suppose that is because I have had such a wonderful year with my rediscovery of ART and having time and making time for it?

This is where I tell you how much you, yes you, have meant to me being out there and here with praise and support. You out there give it to me with your wonderful visits and comments. You here give it to me with your tolerance of dust bunnies and a bit of clutter here and there. From the deepest corner of my heart I thank you, love you and wish you the Merriest Christmas of all.
More later,
Sharon

All Three Finished

I just love the way they look standing up like this. So colorful.

I think he will like it.

She will too.

Well, what fun I have had making these. They will be on their way tomorrow. Just in time.
More later,
Sharon

Third Gift Journal Cover

She only flew in the day-time.

The recipient.

I will have a hard time parting with this one.

More later,

Sharon

Art-At-The-Desk-Time...yes

At last, I have finally completely finished one gift journal. I did a bit of art-at-the-desk this morning instead of blogging-at-the-desk and working-at-the-desk.

This is inside the front cover and you know it is tissue paper. When I get home I may not be able to resist a little paint here and there. Just love doing that. But anyway this one is done. So..
More later,
Sharon

To the Mother of this little person: shuu...don't tell

Third (and last) Gift Journal

I can't show every page of this last gift journal because, well you know, sometimes Blogger just doesn't want me too. If you have just tuned in, I have now made three altered books to give as gifts. I have altered each page with a little inspiration just to give the recipient a little start. They will add their art and journaling.
This is one of the cards that I found Friday. It made a perfect pocket.
I apologize for the poor quality photos. You can see them a little better if you click on the photo. It will enlarge in another window.



Sometimes I use the removed pages to clean my brush. Sometimes I just feel like painting the page. That's what is going on here. I used the page to cut shapes and compose. like it.
Lady Ashley on tissue and some wings on tissue.
Envelope pocket page
Here is a little of, oh yes, tissue!!

We received a Christmas party invitation. I cut the text out of the center and made a border for this page.



Probably one of my favorite pages. The point here is: If my studio was cleaned up, I would have never thought to use this little fabric flamingo scrap on the page.
This is really cool. When I paint the pages, I use a piece of sandwich wrap behind each page. This tree trunk is from that overpainted paper.

Another envelope pocket. So there you have 17 of the 24 pages in this one. All that is left is the cover for this one. You know I will show when I get it done.

Well, I didn't get the mantle dusted or decorated. I went shopping, but didn't purchase anything. Oh my!
More later,
Sharon

Friday Ramble...about mail

I went through a stack of old mail this morning. Thought I could edit some. I did.

I found a beautiful wedding invite. I really didn't need to keep it so I cut the middle/text out and used the rest as a frame on this gift journal page. I messed it up a little with my big girl crayons. But it will be OK.

One card I found has inspired me to try the design with tissue. It doesn't take much for me to use tissue. So, I'm looking forward to that.

I ripped off all the postage stamps and they will find their way onto something. I'm sure.

One wedding invite needed to go into the genealogy box for later processing and updating the family tree. I do that too.

I threw away the filled out but unmailed product registration cards for my washer and dryer. Gee whiz, they are several years old already. Who needs it anyway?

I cut the front off of a couple of the beautiful cards to use as pockets in this gift journal. I will finish it this weekend and yes, I will show and tell when I finish the cover.

I reread the remaining stack of beautiful thank yous and notes from friends. I can't part with them. I've had the inspiration to just glue them into a "Thank You" journal.

We will attend a nice Christmas party tonight. Shop tomorrow. Hope I can make it a family affair. No mood to do it alone.

I'm sure glad you can't see my mantle. It is too dusty to decorate. That is on the weekend "to do" list. Did you know dust bunnies can climb? I think they ...

I need you to send me your left over scraps of holiday wrap. You know, those little bits that you cut off and keep but never have a package that small to wrap. I have a journal idea. P O Box 40 Marlin TX 76661

OK, the other boss just came back from lunch/nap. I better get busy.
More later,
Sharon

Gift Journal Cover

You know the second Gift Journal that I made was for a young him. I think this looks like a him. I haven't finished the back but it will be pretty simple.
More later,
Sharon

OK I'm weird!

I've been tagged to tell 6 weird things about myself. This is hard because in my world, it's not me that is weird....it's everybody else. I'm pretty sure about this because Sally tagged me and the first 4 things on her list could have been about me.

1. I woke up this morning with my socks on. Is that weird? Nothing else was cold when I went to bed...if you get my drift...

2. How about this. I have this thing about the laundry being folded just so. Like the towels must be folded with the hem inside so the tag is on the inside. Fold in half and half again then tri-fold. And beware if they are not stacked perfectly with all those pretty folds looking at you when you open the cabinet. I'm that way about socks and underwear too. Which reminds me...


3. If I don't have a place for something new. I don't want it. Everything has to have a place in my house; however, it doesn't have to be in it's place at all times. Oh my gosh if you could see my studio which is the place for everything that doesn't have a place. And...

4. Don't give me anything that plugs in and call it a present. If you think I need it, give it to me but DO NOT wrap it up and pretend it is a Christmas or birthday present. I don't like things that plug in anyway sitting on my cabinets.

5. And speaking of Christmas. I probably have the weirdest Christmas tree of all of you. It's not a tree. My DH made this for me to my specifications many years ago. It is just 3 skinny triangles of steel rod welded. I put the garland and twinkle lights on and off every year. Each year I put something different on it. And it is really beautiful when the packages begin to fill up on the inside and spill out. This year Ashley and Timothy were totally in charge. Isn't it beautiful?

6. So I'm to number six. I ask Ashley if she could tell me something weird about her Nana. She said, "well, ummm, I think when you are painting and doing your Art and you scream really really loud that, 'I LOVE PAINTS AND PAINTING'...Nana, that's just a little weird." Oh, and that reminds, I have this place down behind my house. Remember I live in the country. When I am a bit or a lot upset about something and no one is at home, I walk down there and SCREAM. I think the emotion evaporates into the trees and there are special, very patient, anger fairies down there waiting for it. I don't know what they do with the emotion that I present but I know they are patient because this doesn't happen very often.

6a. So I ask my dear husband if he would tell me something weird about me. He said, "I'm not playing that game." He is pretty dang smart!

Oh dear, I have convinced myself...I AM WEIRD! I know where the Weird Fairies live and I'm going to tell you about that another day. They live in little houses. And I have one.

Now, I think I get to tag Michelle because I think she and I have some of the same weirdness.
And, Jeannie, because she is the one who inspired me to blog and she didn't even know it.
And, Soul Glo, because I sent her some "funk and flinch" one time and she did amazing things with it.
And, Terri, because I have a little ATC that she made.
And, Lilli, because she takes us on the neatest photo journeys on her blog.
And, One Crabapple, because she seems to be the neatest person and I love her comments.....Oh that reminds me...

6b. I just love getting comments. First, I look at my e-mail notification to see if I have any. I read them and save them. Then I immediately go to my blog and open up the comments and read them again. Yep, they are really there. I do this with the discovery of each new comment. Then, later in the day or the next day, I go to my blog and read the post as if I have never read it (Oh my gosh. I wrote this.) and then I open the comments and read them all. Again. I'm not going to admit how many time I might do this but it might be a good thing that I don't get 49 comments like some people....I don't think it is weird that, "I LOVE COMMENTS. "
More later,
Sharon

Gift Journal Cover

Finished the cover for my Gift Journal. This is the first one that I did last weekend. Now I'm gonna go start another cover. The big goofy flowers on the back cover are made with tissue. What else. Because I always have a paint brush in my hand, I dabbed a little on the flowers and then stamped them with a homemade stamp. Oh and Little Miss Curious' frock is printed tissue. I LOVE TISSUE.....AND PAINT.
More later,
Sharon

A Little Rambling

Here is a corner of a page in one of my gift journals. But it is not about the gift journal that I write today.

It is about stamps though. As I have told you before, all or most all of the stamps that I use in my art were given to me from my Mother. She collected them in the 1960's when she worked in mail room that received mail from all over the world. But it is not about the gift of stamps that I write today.

It is about stamps though. I was listening with one ear to Martha Stewart just now and she mentioned this site. It is about stamps. Anyway, I think it is a great source for stamps for collage purpose. Go see. I believe the stamp from above was from 1965.

So, how is your weekend looking like? Maybe the first round of Christmas parties? Not me. I am going to make ART this weekend. As always I have a long list of what I want to do. One thing is my Christmas Card. I'll be sending you one if I have your address.

I hope to do the cover art for my gift journals and also will work on the inside of the third journal. And if I get all that done, I am ready to do another page in my True Colors Journal. I'm thinking "hot pink and orange".

It finally got cold here so maybe I will set a fire in the fireplace. If you see a swirl of smoke from my place, stop in, we can ART together.

More later,
Sharon
PS I can't help it. I just gotta show one
more page. Or half a spread.